Surviving "Payment by Results": a simple method of improving clinical coding in burn specialised services in the United Kingdom.
BACKGROUND
Coding inpatient episodes plays an important role in determining the financial remuneration of a clinical service. Insufficient or incomplete data may have very significant consequences on its viability. We created a document that improves the coding process in our Burns Centre.


METHODS
At Yorkshire Regional Burns Centre an inpatient summary sheet was designed to prospectively record and present essential information on a daily basis, for use in the coding process. The level of care was also recorded. A 3-month audit was conducted to assess the efficacy of the new forms.


RESULTS
Forty-nine patients were admitted to the Burns Centre with a mean age of 27.6 years and TBSA ranging from 0.5% to 65%. The total stay in the Burns Centre was 758 days, of which 22% were at level B3-B5 and 39% at level B2. The use of the new discharge document identified potential income of about 500,000 GB pound sterling at our local daily tariffs for high dependency and intensive care.


CONCLUSIONS
The new form is able to ensure a high quality of coding with a possible direct impact on the financial resources accrued for burn care.
Wallis
Katy L
KL
Plastic Surgery, St George's Hospital, London, UK. katy.wallis@btinternet.com
Malic
Claudia C
CC
Littlewood
Sonia L
SL
Judkins
Keith
K
Phipps
Alan R
AR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002053:Burn Units / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002056:Burns / Q000191:economics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics*; D015895:Relative Value Scales; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult